RBI could survive any Governor: Raghuram Rajan

Days before announcing his departure, Raghuram Rajan said it is important not to ‘personalise’ the RBI office, since it is bigger than any governor

London: Reserve Bank will survive any Governor and it is important not to "personalise this office," the outgoing Raghuram Rajan said, days before his surprise announcement that he was not interested in a second term.

Raghuram Rajan File Pic

Rajan, a former IMF Chief Economist who is credited to have predicted the 2008 global financial crisis, has been often hailed as the ‘rockstar central banker’ ever since becoming RBI Governor in September 2013.

"What is important is to not personalise this office. It will survive any Governor, it is bigger than any Governor," the Economist magazine quoted Rajan as saying. The comments are believed to have been made amid intense speculation on whether he would get an extension or not as RBI Governor – in the run-up to his own disclosure in a publicly last week.

In a separate article in its web edition after Rajan announced his decision against a second term, the Economist called it "one of India’s favourite parlour games" coming to an end, while adding that a clean-up of the banking system that he initiated, upset India’s "powerful and indebted industrialists."